Here were give our SEC Football power rankings after week seven of the college football season. Auburn remains among the top teams in the conference.

Auburn football had a great bye week as two teams ahead of them in the power rankings took some bad losses with Tennessee getting embarrassed by Alabama and Ole Miss falling to Arkansas.

To be fair, Tennessee is beat up and coming off a difficult stretch of games, but they aren’t the team we thought they would be. Because of that, they are taking quite a hit in our power rankings this week.

Alabama has asserted itself as the one dominant team in the conference after what they did on the road against Tennessee. Now they have to face another top 10 team, but this time at home.

Elsewhere in the SEC, Florida and LSU both got out to slow starts before blowing out Missouri and Southern Mississippi respectively.

In somewhat of an upset, Vanderbilt will move out of the basement because of their win on the road against Georgia.

I thought Mississippi State played pretty well on the road against a good BYU team, but they ultimately lost in double-overtime.

Oct 9, 2016; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks tight end Kiel Pollard (87) and Georgia Bulldogs safety Quincy Mauger (20) dive for the same ball during the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium. South Carolina would get the possession. Georgia won 28-14. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

12 – South Carolina – 2-4 (1-4) – Even

The Gamecocks are coming off a bye after losing by two touchdowns at home to what is looking like a terrible Georgia team.

To be fair, that game was much closer than the final score. Still, this is not a good South Carolina team and I don’t see how they make a bowl game at this point with only two wins on the season thus far.

Will Muschamp has already put together a very good defense that will keep them in games, but I don’t think they have the offense to pull off an upset against either Tennessee, Florida or Clemson.

They need to be worried about a UMASS team this weekend that is very familiar with SEC football as they’ve already played competitive games against Florida and Mississippi State this year.

I still think Muschamp and South Carolina fans will call this a good season if they finish with five wins, as they should.

The heat has been turned up on Dan Mullen as Mississippi State now sits at just 2-4 on the season after a double-overtime loss at BYU.

I actually didn’t think the Bulldogs would play as well as they did in a hostile environment on a Friday night against a good BYU team. Obviously those are games that Mississippi State fans expect to win, but the Bulldogs lost a lot from last year’s team and are rebuilding.

Plus, you have to realize how good the SEC West is. Somebody has to be at the bottom of that pile, and it looks like it’s going to be the Bulldogs this year.

Can you imagine a schedule that includes Auburn, Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss? That’s just not fair for a team that is trying to regroup.

At most this team will win five games this year; although, if they don’t beat Kentucky this weekend they might finish with just three wins, and Mullen might have to get the axe at that point.

Oct 15, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; against the Tennessee Volunteers during the third quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

8 – Tennessee – 5-2 (2-2) – Down Four

There is no excuse for getting beat 49-10 on your own field, I don’t care who you are playing. If you want to consider yourself one of the best teams in the country, you don’t lose like the Volunteers did Saturday afternoon.

I know they had a bunch of injuries on defense, but that’s part of the game. Great teams have the depth to overcome those injuries, and it’s still no reason to get blown out at home.

They’ve now lost two straight, and you have to consider that those struggles early in the season were real.

On the bright side, there isn’t a team the rest of the way that should come close to beating Tennessee. However, I would not be surprised if they stumble along the way.

Right now they need Florida to slip up and lose a game to get back in the SEC Championship picture. If they don’t make it to the championship game – even if they go on to win 10 games – Butch Jones seat will be on fire.

I’m really disappointed in the Rebels and how they played against Arkansas. There is no way they should have lost that game. But that’s what happens when teams play uninspired football, and Ole Miss tends to do that often.

Even after two early losses, Ole Miss and its fans thought they had a chance to win out and possibly enter the playoff discussion again.

That’s out the window now, and you wonder how motivated Chad Kelly and this team will play the rest of the season.

They could easily fold it up and lose six games this year, and I’m not sure Hugh Freeze could survive that with all that’s going on at that program. The only reason he’s still there is because he wins football games.

We’ll get a good idea of how they’ll respond this weekend as they travel to Baton Rouge to take on LSU at night.

The Gators are sitting back atop the SEC East standings thanks to Tennessee losing to a couple of top 10 teams. They now control their own destiny in the SEC, and with just one loss they are still alive for the College Football Playoff.

I think that is unlikely for Florida, but with Luke Del Rio back at quarterback the Gators are a much better team.

They get a bye week this weekend before taking on rival Georgia in what is turning into an easy game.

They’re biggest test may come on the road against Arkansas or LSU.

Florida should be favored in just about every game the rest of the way, but I still think they slip up at least once and let Tennessee back into the SEC Championship game.

Things looked pretty bad for LSU in the first half against Southern Miss as it was tied at 10 going into the break. That’s why they play four quarters though as LSU scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to win 45-10.

They once again played without Leonard Fournette, but that doesn’t seem to matter as Derrius Guice is proving that he’s also one of the best running backs in the league going for 162 yards on 16 carries.

Danny Etling only completed 11 passes but they went for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns.

They’ve now scored 40-plus points in their two games since Les Miles was fired, granted those games were against Missouri and Southern Miss.

If Coach O and the staff can continue to score this many points, that defense is good enough to win them some games.

They get a disgruntled Ole Miss team at home this weekend in what should be a telling game for both teams.

Much like Tennessee, Auburn’s only two losses were against a couple of top 10 teams. The only difference to me is that Auburn has gotten better each week, while Tennessee has gotten worse – and more injured.

It’s really hard for me to put anyone other than Texas A&M and Alabama ahead of Auburn right now. Florida and Tennessee are the only teams in the SEC West that would give Auburn a scare.

This Auburn defense has proven that it’s a top 15 defense in the country, and the offense has made improvements against subpar competition.

This weekend is vital for the perception of this Auburn football team. If they come out and dominate Arkansas like they did Mississippi State, then this number three ranking is solidified.

If they lose to Arkansas, the Tigers will take a nosedive in these rankings next week.